Israel - L-Acoustics' Israeli distributor Lightone reports that leading Israeli PA company the Mazuz Group has become a K1/Kudo Rental Network Agent. The purchase is part of an upgrade of the company's inventory to meet the growing needs of international touring riders.

"The addition of Mazuz as K1 agent for Israel is a great reflection not only of the system's performance but also on how L-Acoustics, supported by our distributor Lightone, can offer an unbeatable package in terms of performance, acceptability and return on investment," says L-Acoustics sales manager Tim McCall. "Mazuz has some of the country's most respected engineers and now they have the country's best system - a winning combination."

Following the purchase, L-Acoustics' certified trainer Paul Van Baasbank travelled to Mazuz's premises to carry out some K1 training before the new system w

France - The magnificent Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral is celebrating its 800th anniversary with Dream of Colours - a spectacular high definition son et lumière show that recreates stages in the building of the cathedral and displays the massive intricate façade in all its original glowing colours. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991, the cathedral will host the show three times a night from May to October each year.

A major shoot-out was held between all the main brands of column loudspeaker considered capable of giving the performance required for audio quality, SPL, coverage and throw, and Community's Entasys was chosen for the job.

The Dream of Colours system consists of 16 Community Entasys three-way, full-range, column line-array loudspeakers, supplemented by six 18-inch subwoofers. Lab.gruppen amplifiers were selected to power the system and

UK - The Missing Abroad initiative by the Lucie Blackman Trust is one of the first customers in the UK to install Roland's new VR-5 AV mixer/recorder for a new studio suite which will play a central role in the charity's search for missing people, and assistance to families of muder victims overseas.

Between 50-70 UK citizens are murdered abroad each year. At any one time, the Lucie Blackman Trust is trying to find 20-30 missing UK citizens. Since the disappearance of Lucie Blackman in Japan in 2000, the LBT has assisted the families of missing relatives and has established Missing Abroad to provide unique expertise, practical help, advice and support.

Missing Abroad operations manager Matt Searle has commissioned the opening of a dedicated TV suite at the Trust's HQ in the Isle of Wight. "For families whose relatives are missing or murdered overseas, the process of makin

Switzerland - Taking two years to complete, a major upgrade to Thun's cultural and congress centre has provided the Swiss town with a truly 21st century venue. The project included a complete technical refit, with Yamaha equipment taking a central role.

Costing 24m Swiss francs, the project saw the existing Kultur und Kongresszentrum Thun (or KKThun) building extensively refurbished and extended.

The existing 740-capacity Schadausaal was completely revamped, including the addition of a moveable wall (which can divide it into two separate spaces) and greatly improved acoustics. It has been joined by a second performance hall, the 500-capacity Lachensaal, a 530m2 foyer (including bar and food facilities) and an 80 space basement car park.

The technical upgrade was carried out by Swiss AV specialists Kilchenmann AG and Szeno Engineering and includes a DME64N digital mixing engi

France / China - Loudspeaker manufacturer APG is preparing for a busy PALM Expo in Beijing in association with their Chinese distributor BVCAM. The exhibition, which takes place from 26-29 May 2011, will be the first showing in Asia of the new DX Series low profile monitor speakers, DX12 and DX15. The new range will be on demo in APG's dedicated demo room at the show, along with the big brother monitor speaker, SMX15. APG will also be showing their powerful modular line array system, Uniline.

"PALM Expo has always been an extremely worthwhile show for APG, and this year is likely to prove the best yet," commented APG's sales and marketing director, Xavier Pion. "Our business in China is growing all the time, thanks to the sterling efforts of our distributor, BVCAM, and with the new products that we have brought to market recently, we're anticipating a lot of inter

Russia - Lab.gruppen distributor and major Russian systems contractor, MS-Max based in Moscow, has recently completed two substantial entertainment complex installations using Lab.gruppen amplifiers from a number of different ranges to better suit each specific application - C Series dedicated installation amplifiers and fP Series and FP+ Series high power workhorses.

The first installation is the Gorka Club in the ancient Russian city of Yaroslavl located some 250km north-east of Moscow. The second, called simply Europe is far up in Russia's frozen north in the Siberian city of Yakutsk. Located just 450km south of the Arctic Circle, Yakutsk has the dubious honour of being the coldest city in the world.

Also known as 'The Hill' after the ski hill that adorns part of the roof space of the complex, the Gorka Club in Yaroslavl is a substantial multi-level venue comprising the Hil

USA - Special Event Services (SES) and On Stage Audio (OSA) have announced that they will partner on the 17 May 2011 live production of the Oprah Winfrey Show finale, Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular, at Chicago's United Centre.

As part of the growing Martin Audio MLA network, SES and OSA will deploy the largest MLA system ever flown to ensure uniform coverage throughout the arena for this high-profile production.

"Knowing the high level of audio quality we need to provide for an event of this magnitude, MLA was the obvious choice," said Jim Brammer, SES president. "As the launch customer for MLA in North America, we're pleased to have a high-calibre company like OSA join the growing MLA network, and we look forward to partnering with them on this event."

On 17 May, the United Centre will serve as both the set for the taping of the fin

Paraguay - Italian live sound specialist dBTechnologies has reached an agreement with WorldMusic to distribute its range of products in Paraguay with immediate effect.

WorldMusic general manager, Mr Nabil explains, "dBTechnologies is a great brand with a strong image on the global stage. We pride ourselves on offering many top products and premium brands in the Paraguay market, and taking on dBTechnologies helps us broaden our product range significantly.

"We have had very good references as to the quality and reliability of the dBTechnologies products from existing users and see great potential - especially with the DVA series.".

WorldMusic, specialises in professional audio, with exclusive distribution with various brands such as AKG, BSS, Focusrite, Roland and Sennheiser. Also offering MI products and DJ equipment, the company has a retail store based in Ci

UK - Edinburgh's Pleasance Theatre, owned and run by the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) has installed a Yamaha LS9 digital console.

The 300-capacity Pleasance Theatre stages drama, live music, dance and comedy throughout the year, as well as hosting lectures, conferences and film screenings. Both professional and amateur companies use it and, with the venue also rented out for performances during the Fringe, it's rare to step inside and not find something going on.

"The theatre had previously had been an empty space with some tabs, a few hemp bars and a 125a socket," says Tom Lawes of EUSA. "It was used by a variety of student societies to put on various shows and occasionally some in-house events. We bought the LS9-32 in preparation for redeveloping the theatre, which was mainly the installation of a technical infrastructure which would allow

UK - West London based Entec Sound & Light supplied the lighting design, equipment and crew for Punjabi pop/singer/songwriter superstar Gurdas Maan's recent sold out shows at London's Royal Albert and the LG Arena at Birmingham NEC.

The lighting design was created by Entec's Ryan Brown. With no production rehearsals, scant on-site programming time and some seriously high profile shows ahead of him, he took full advantage of Entec's newly updated WYSIWYG system to visualise and pre-plot the show in their Northolt HQ. This proved "Absolutely invaluable" he comments.

It's the third time that Entec has worked with Maan's management, UK Box Office, who approached them to create a "fabulously elegant" lightshow after being inspired by seeing archival images and hearing about previous projects that the company has undertaken.

Gurdas Maan's spectacular career has

Belgium - Flashlight/APR and DEE Sound & Light will as of now closely cooperate in the field of renting out professional sound, lighting, backline and rigging equipment.

Both parties are no strangers to each other and have regularly worked together as colleagues and neighbours over the last years, also as Synco Network partners.

Due to this cooperation, the companies have even decided to change the name Flashlight/APR into Ampco Flashlight Rental. DEE's managing director Andre Schneider will be responsible for the general management of Ampco Flashlight Rental in Belgium as well as DEE Sound & Light within the scope of this new cooperation.

Andre Schneider comments, "Ampco Flashlight is a market leader in the Netherlands and an important player in Europe. DEE is known as a small, but extremely high-quality company in Belgium and abroad. Both companies are reputable renta

UK - A historic 18th century Grade II-listed congregational church in Merthyr Tydfil has been lovingly restored following a six year bid to secure development grants.

Following a spend of £1.4m the building, which had fallen into disrepair, has been converted into a multi-cultural arts, community, educational and Welsh Language Centre, incorporating a new 250-seat amphitheatre; this has been equipped with an end-to-end Harman Pro sound system, supplied Sound Technology and installed by Adlib.

The project is the brainchild of the Soar Project's chief officer, Lis McLean, who secured a total of 13 grants - including £527K from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £300,000 from Heads of the Valleys funding programme - with contributions coming from their own Welsh language bookshop, based in the adjacent vestry opposite. But she says the dream for a Welsh community cen

Destination: Music - UK Music has published Destination: Music - the first study of its kind to scope the economic contribution of music festivals and major concerts to tourism throughout the UK.

Drawing on unprecedented access to more than 2.5m anonymised ticketing transactions, the report's main findings are as follows:

Large-scale live music across all regions of the UK attracts at least 7.7m attendances by domestic and overseas music tourists

Collectively they spend £1.4bn during the course of their trip

This is a positive contribution of £864m (GVA) to the national economy and equivalent to 19,700 full-time jobs

Although 5% of all music tourists come from overseas, they contribute 18% of total music tourist spending

From these findings UK Music has issued a list of recommendations to Government - including the implementation of a national live m

Czech Republic - Five days dedicated to lighting and sound design will literally light up and resonate the programme of this year's Prague Quadrennial (PQ) of Performance Design and Space, the world's largest event dedicated to performance design, held in Prague every fourth year since 1967. This year, the PQ will occupy the city centre and public spaces around town from 16-26 June, with Light and Sound - one of PQ's seven sub-projects, bringing Prague's National Theatre to life from 19-23 June.

Light and Sound is being organised by PQ's general commissioner, scenographer Boris Kudli?ka, and by UK-based sound designer Steve Brown. The section will feature an exhibition, interactive presentations of the latest approaches to sound and lighting, and panel discussions, with the personal participation of famous artists such as Scanner, Tod Machover, Olaf Winter and Feli

Czech Republic - Set to take place during this year's Prague Quadrennial, Scenofest is an educational project of the Prague Quadrennial and OISTAT which looks at more than just sound and lighting design - it also presents workshops focused on the entire range of performative and theatre arts. As with the PQ's other projects, inter-disciplinarity plays an important role in the educational programme, meaning that audiences can look forwards to novel approaches such as the combination of sound and costume design in a workshop led by a team from Purdue University (USA), headed by professor Richard K. Thomas. Another workshop, Pop Up Your Ears (led by the réaltympanica arts group and Tania El Khoury) will aim to uncover the subjective perception of reality through sound. Sound compositions and their relationship to the visual aspects of performance will be explored

Turkey - Leading Turkish football team, Galatasaray recently moved to its new Türk Telekom Arena - and immediately established a world record as officially having the loudest fans in the world.

Passionate and partisan, when they played local Istanbul rivals Fenerbache on 18 March, an impressive 131.76dB was registered in the 52,695 capacity, all-seater stadium, qualifying it for entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

It was left to Asimetrik (QSC and EAW's Turkish distributors) who were awarded the AV installation contract, to design a networked QSC system, based around DataPort-equipped ISA and CX amplifiers, and BASIS signal transport operating under QSControl.net, to overcome the mighty roar on match days.

Using the HD15 DataPort facilities on the CX amplifiers, Asimetrik set up a QSControl.net network to control the main system, creating two IP-rated rack spaces

Czech Republic - The distinctive style of Bobby McFerrin filled the Vodova arena in Brno twice over, with 8,000 people in the audience and 100 of them on stage with the artist. The lucky 100 had a good look at Bobby's four Nexo 45°N-12 line monitors, the newest element of an all-Nexo PA system supplied by Rental Pro.

The 60-year-old musician has an impressive vocal range of four octaves, and is famous for the interaction he has with his concert audiences throughout the world. He is a particular favourite in the Czech Republic, and this is his third tour of the country.

Rental Pro asked Nexo to ship the new 45°N-12 stage monitors into the country for the first time, setting up McFerrin with two pairs of the revolutionary wedges.

Using a Nexo Geo T system for the main PA, 10+2 per side, with out-fill arrays of 16 Geo S8 modules, and 8x CD18s for subbass. Geo S8s were a

Switzerland - Acoustic amplification systems manufacturer Schertler has announced that the Deluxe versions of its popular Unico and David portable acoustic amplifiers are now available. The three-channel Unico Deluxe and two-channel David Deluxe have been re-engineered to deliver "outstanding transparency, clarity, warmth and accuracy of sound, while offering a feature set that has been specially designed to suit any acoustic performance situation".

Both models contain a new Class A preamplifier (with no integrated circuits), re-engineered power amp and new hi-end speakers. A hi-end headphone preamp has also been added. A further innovation is the inclusion of intelligent inputs that will automatically recognise the impedance of the pickup or microphone, with no DI box or buffer required. Each channel has a four-band EQ and a special dedicated filter. Peak LEDs are als

USA - DPA Microphones CEO and shareholder Christian Poulsen has assumed day-to-day management of DPA Inc, the Danish manufacturer's US subsidiary, with immediate effect.

Poulsen, who was appointed CEO in October after four years on the DPA board of directors, is a graduate of the Danish Engineering Academy and founder of digital camera and scanner company Imacon. The fastest growing industrial company in Denmark in 1999 and 2000, Imacon merged with Hasselblad in 2004 to transform the Swedish photography giant from high-end film camera company to a fully digital camera operation.

Poulsen has transferred his business acumen to DPA, spearheading a new phase for the manufacturer marked by the launch of the new Reference Standard series. Improvements and redesigns of DPA's classic microphone ranges as well as innovative new product launches are planned for the near future, says the

The Netherlands - Alcons Audio has launched the BC543, a new triple 18" cardioid sub-bass loudspeaker, designed to give the company's pro-ribbon audio systems the tightest and crispest possible low end.

A self-contained, high-output cardioid subwoofer, the BC543 is designed for both permanent and portable ground-stacked applications, offering a high output plus tight and accurate bass response.

The BC543's front and rear located woofer configuration combines with Alcons Digital Drive Processor (DDP) to offer selectable cardioid, low-frequency pattern control and up to 18dB of rear rejection, without any need for additional cabinets.

The unit's front features two AW18.6NDC/8 18-inch, long-excursion woofers, complemented by a 5.3 inch voice-coil with vented triple-spider frame, Neodymium motor structure, carbon fibre cone and dust cap. The rear features a single AW18.6NDC

China - The Meyer Sound stand at PALM EXPO China promises to be a bustling hub of activity, with demonstrations of the Constellation acoustic system alongside an extensive display of advanced audio technologies. Meyer Sound will also make a corporate announcement that will be "of critical interest to audio professionals in the region".

For the first time at a trade show in China, Meyer Sound will present demonstrations of the Constellation acoustic system. Featuring celebrated saxophonist Sarah Underwood, the live demos will reveal how advanced digital processing, working in conjunction with arrays of precision microphones and linear loudspeakers, can transform a performance space into acoustical environments ranging from an intimate theatre to a cavernous cathedral.

At the heart of Constellation is the new D-Mitri digital audio platform, a flexible suite of hardware

India - The Indian Recording Arts Awards (IRAA) aim to highlight the esteemed technical and creative talent contributed by leading sound recordists, music composers, music directors and recording engineers. IRAA was launched in 2006 as the Recording Arts (RA) Awards for music recording, sound designing & soundtrack by Pro Sound Systems - India's only trade publication on music production and live sound - and the Audio Engineering Society (AES) India.

The 2010 Expo saw the rebranding of RA to IRAA, but despite the name change the awards retain the same goal of recognizing the creative art forms of sound recording, mixing and mastering and, of course, creating music, say organisers.

Awards are given across a number of categories including: Best Recording Engineer; Best Mix and Mastering Engineer; Best Record Label; Album of the Year; Record Company of the Year, and Life T

USA - Blue Microphones has extended its audio expertise to the stage with the recently released enCORE series. Bringing studio-quality sound to live performances, the Blue Mics enCORE series of live mics has been infiltrating venues around the globe, says the company. The series includes a range of mics designed to meet specific needs of the live stage or recording studio.

These include: enCORE 100 - a studio-grade dynamic microphone with Blue's proprietary capsule technology; enCORE 200 -adds Blue's custom-tuned active dynamic circuitry, coupling high SPL handling of a dynamic mic with the consistency and low noise of a phantom powered mic; enCORE 300 - the flagship of the series, a live condenser microphone with a Blue capsule custom-tuned to a matched phantom powered circuit and an open architecture design that allows for uninterrupted sound no matter now the mic is gripped,

India - PALM Expo, India's most established exhibition and conference on pro audio, lighting and musical instruments is scheduled for 2 - 4 June, 2011 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon (E), Mumbai, India. This June, the Expo will celebrate 11 successful years in operation.

With 15,000sq.m spread across two halls, the PALM Expo 2011 has increased 20% since its last successful staging in 2010.

"A 50% increase in exhibitors showcasing over 400 international and local brands will keep the show floor buzzing with action on all the three days. The 2011 Expo will not only see international product and brand launches, but also product clinics, workshops and an extensive three day Seminar and Conference programme. The Harman sponsored Performance Arena, an open-air line array demo area, an Indian Acoustic Musical Instruments Village, the Integrate Expo Kramer Technical Cla

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